Appointments - Overview
During the course of the work week you will need to schedule appointments with clients to conduct Department business. You must send a system-generated appointment letter to the client. Appointments may be scheduled as a result of your views, external agency matches, client request, etc.
The Appointments section of the My Office tab on the Home Page allows you to schedule, reschedule, cancel, view and print appointments.
To facilitate the above actions for appointments with clients, the following pages are available in the Appointments section:
- Calendar
- Appointment Book
- Print Appointments
You are responsible for:
- designating and scheduling your available time for taking applications, conducting eligibility reviews and performing other Department-related interviews
- checking whether a client has an ADA accommodation that could affect the time or location of the appointment. If the client has an ADA accommodation, check the Accommodation Special Assistance Disposition page to determine the accommodation remedies. See Appointment Book – EAEDC
- viewing scheduled appointments daily, and
- modifying any changes in scheduling on your calendar
Note: For any automatically scheduled appointments, such as reevaluations, BEACON will check to see if there is an accommodation for an appointment time or type restriction and schedule the appointment for the time and type requested. An appointment will never be automatically scheduled for a client who requires an ASL interpreter or home visit.
Today’s Appointments
In the event you are unavailable and an appointment needs to be scheduled for you, rescheduled, reassigned or canceled, your appointment calendar can be accessed by your supervisor and other case managers in your unit.
In the center of the Home Page, the Today’s Appointments content pane displays the current month’s calendar and a list of your daily appointments that may have been scheduled by you, or other case managers and your supervisor. To view the details of a particular appointment click the appointment entry in the Today’s Appointments list box to enable the Appointment Details popup dialog box.
Appointment letters
Appointment letters are generated with the case specific information included in the text of the letter regarding the reason for the appointment. You may enter free-form text for other information for the client in the appointment letter as well.
The Department has established the following guidelines for developing free-form text:
Notices and forms:
- sentence structure must be grammatically correct, complete and easy to understand font type and size must be uniform throughout
- bolding or underlining should not be used
- spell-check must be used, and
- manual citations, when required, must be entered in the standard format of: 106 CMR xxx.xxx (example: 106 CMR 320.200)
Appointment letters:
- must be clear and include the time, place and purpose of the appointment
- must identify the name of the individual with whom the client will be meeting and what role that individual will play in the client’s situation
- indicate what household members should attend the meeting, and
- should include a phone number and the name of a person the client should contact in the event that s/he cannot make the appointment or will be delayed
Related Topics
Appointments to Schedule Views
The Application Interview (SNAP)
Appointments Policy and Procedures - EAEDC